Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 631 | Wed 02 Feb 2022
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INDIA: CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN J&K'S JAMMU DIVISION
by Elizabeth Kendal
Intolerant Hindu nationalism is rising in the majority-Hindu Jammu Division of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Consequently, so too is persecution. This trend is likely to get a whole lot worse in the coming months and years as India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) advances its plans to have a Hindu nationalist Chief Minister ruling over majority-Muslim J&K. A 26 January report by Morning Star News (MSN) details two very worrying cases of persecution with impunity in Jammu Division's southern-most Kathua District which borders India's Punjab State.
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| Pastor Chunglenlal Singsit, 25 Dec 2021 |
On Saturday 25 December (Christmas Day), Pastor Chunglenlal Singsit (40) was out buying groceries for his family in Padyari village, Kathua District, when he was attacked by a mob of Hindu nationalists. Ethnically distinct, Pastor Singsit comes from Manipur in India's north-east and belongs to the predominantly Christian (mostly Baptist) Kuki Chin tribe [known as Kuki in India, and Chin in Burma/Myanmar]. Footage posted to social media shows a clearly terrified Pastor Singsit being abused and harassed by Hindu nationalists who demanded he chant 'Jai Shri Ram' (Hail Lord Ram). They accused him of paying people to convert to Christianity and rebuked him for being in the majority-Hindu Jammu Division. A crowd of more than 100 locals gathered, many of whom threatened to beat the pastor. Eventually they handed him over to the police, who likewise slapped and rebuked the pastor for being in the majority-Hindu Jammu Division. Pastor Singsit was held in police detention for over 24 hours before being released without charge, but with an order to leave J&K within five days. He left Kathua with his wife and three children on 31 December; they have returned to Manipur. Pastor Singsit had lived and served in Kathua District for three years as a missionary priest with the Friends of Missionary Prayer Band.
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| Jammu and Kashmir. Kathua District encircled in red. |
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| Pastor Shoukat Peter speaks to the press. |
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BACKGROUND
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In 1947, when the subcontinent was partitioned, both India and Pakistan laid claim to the mixed but majority-Muslim princely Himalayan state of Kashmir. No sooner had the British departed, Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir. In desperation, Kashmir's Hindu ruler - Maharaja Hari Singh - turned to India for help. Despite being pro-independence, Singh ceded Kashmir to India, which sent in troops to defend its new territory. After several wars, Pakistan now occupies around one third of Kashmir. Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave Indian Kashmir - Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) - special status with a high degree of autonomy. But times have changed. In the majority-Muslim Kashmir Valley, Islam has grown increasingly fundamentalist, intolerant, militant and pro-Pakistan. In the early 1990s, an estimated 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) were driven from the Kashmir Valley. In 2012, a group of Christian converts were driven from Srinagar; while their Punjabi pastor, his wife, his associate minister and a Dutch missionary were subsequently expelled on the orders of a Sharia Court. Meanwhile, India has grown increasingly Hindu nationalist, intolerant and militant.
In June 2018, the BJP-led federal government imposed federal rule on J&K and appointed a governor to rule over the territory. In November 2018 the governor dissolved the state assembly. In May 2019 the BJP - which had been promising to revoke Article 370 since the 1980s - won the federal elections and increased its majority with an election manifesto that included revoking Article 370. In July 2019 the federal government deployed tens of thousands of additional Indian troops to J&K. On 5 August 2019 it revoked Article 370 and on 9 August it passed the J&K Re-Organisation Act. This was followed by a massive crackdown and suffocating repression. In December 2020, the Indian government held polls in J&K for a District Development Council. It was a test run to see how BJP members would fare. To its shock, the BJP did not poll as well as it had hoped. In 2018 the Supreme Court ruled that, when state assemblies have been dissolved prematurely, elections must be held within six months. Ignoring this, the BJP has decided there will be no elections in J&K until J&K has been thoroughly 're-organised' and gerrymandered to ensure a BJP victory. Long a sectarian tinderbox, J&K is heading for a major crisis. This does not bode well for the territory's vulnerable minority Christians.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
* bless, comfort and encourage Pastor Singsit as he and his family settle back into Manipur; may the Lord provide their every need; may the believers left behind in Kathua District know the Lord's love and presence; may the Lord provide their every need also.
* grant all the pastors and believers of Kathua District great wisdom and grace as they navigate through these increasingly difficult days of escalating Hindu nationalism.
* guide and protect the Christians of Jammu and Kashmir as two intolerant worldviews - fundamentalist Islam and Hindu nationalism - compete for dominance. May the Holy Spirit move powerfully in J&K, to awaken Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus to the dangers of sectarian hatred; may many hearts be softened and opened to the Gospel of Peace.
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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INDIA: CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN J&K'S JAMMU DIVISION
In August 2019 India's Hindu nationalist BJP-led federal government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy. Since then, the BJP has been enacting its plan to 're-organise' and gerrymander Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to empower minority Hindus at the expense of majority Muslims (many of whom have been radicalised). As Hindu nationalism rises in majority-Hindu Jammu Division, so too does persecution of Christians. Two recent cases of persecution with impunity in Jammu Division's southern-most Kathua District bode ill for Christians in the area. Over Christmas, a missionary pastor from north-east India was attacked in the street, detained by police and expelled from J&K. A week later, a house-church was attacked. Ignoring India's constitution, police in Kathua District are insisting that Christians obtain permission before gathering for prayer or worship. Please pray.
